How To Get Away With Murder star Viola Davis made history yesterday by becoming the first black woman to win the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, delivering a powerful and moving acceptance speech that called on those in the industry to create more opportunities for women of colour.
Her speech was widely praised on the night, but one star in particular wasn’t feeling the love, and she took to Twitter to vent her criticisms publicly – sparking an immediate backlash with accusations of racism and discrimination.
General Hospital star Nancy Lee Grahn posted a now-deleted tweet that read: “I’m a f***ing actress for 40 yrs. None of us get respect or opportunity we deserve. Emmys not venue 4 racial opportunity. ALL women belittled.”
She continued to attack the speech on Twitter, saying that Viola was in the “elite of TV performers” and had “never been discriminated against”. After facing backlash from other users on Twitter, the actress tried to explain her original statement further, before apologising and backtracking completely.
In her stirring acceptance speech, Viola drew attention to the issue of diversity in television. She opened her speech with this quote from Harriet Tubman:
“In my mind, I see a line. And over that line, I see green fields and lovely flowers and beautiful, white women with their arms stretched out to me over that line, but I can’t seem to get there no how. I can’t seem to get over that line. “
Viola continued by saying that “opportunity” was the only thing separating women of colour from other industry hopefuls.
“You cannot win an Emmy for roles that are simply not there,” Viola said, before going on to thank writers, showrunners and other black actresses who have helped make television more diverse.
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